In honor of Mother's Day, CNN asked some of the world's remarkable leading ladies: "What is the greatest lesson your mother taught you?"

Michelle Obama has made her family a priority despite her demanding role as First Lady of the United States.To aid her and her husband in raising their children Malia and Sasha, the First Lady's mother, Marian Robinson moved into the White House.

Robinson is often seen at public family events such as turning on the lights of the National Christmas Tree during a ceremony on the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, DC, December 9, 2010 (pictured).

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Photos:Famous daughters: 'What I learned from my mom'

Melinda Gates – Melinda Gates is a distinguished American businesswoman who is well-known for her philanthropic efforts as the co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She is pictured here with her mother and grandmother in 1978.

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Carolina Herrera – Venezuelan-American designer Carolina Herrera has become a household name through her luxury fashion house, which she started three decades ago. A former guest on Leading Women, she revealed how she turned being chic into a business with admirers including Jackie Onassis, Renee Zellweger and Tina Fey.

Elif Shafak – Elif Shafak is a renowned award-winning writer from Turkey. She has been described as "one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Turkish and world literature" and has received the honorary distinction of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters.

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Christiane Amanpour – Christiane Amanpour is CNN's chief international correspondent and anchor of nightly foreign affairs show, Amanpour. She has reported from every major world news event and hotspot, including Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea as well as having interviewed most of the world's leaders, including Moammar Gadhafi, Hosni Mubarak, Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and Hamid Karzai.

Alek Wek – Sudanese-born supermodel Alek Wek has taken runways by storm since emerging on the world's fashion scene in 1994. Since 2002, she has been an ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

She told CNN: "My mother had nine children, and raised us through two civil wars and raised us through exile, she has always had great strength and has always been so resilient, and her resilience when I look back is humbling. She always made us feel safe, she always just got on with things and protected us."

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Kristie Lu Stout – Kristie Lu Stout, one of the hosts of CNN's Leading Women, is an award-winning anchor/correspondent based in Hong Kong. She is also the host of the nightly news program News Stream and CNN's monthly feature On China.

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Vanessa-Mae – Breaking on to the world stage at 15 years old, Vanessa Mae is an internationally-renowned musician who is currently training to compete in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. While she does not have a close relationship with her mother, Vanessa remains extremely close with her grandmother Kim Chua (pictured together in Zermatt, Switzerland).

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Maggie Aderin-Pocock – Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock (pictured right) is a well-known space scientist from England. The photograph she has provided to Leading Women was taken at Buckingham Palace when she was awarded a Member of the British Empire by the queen in 2009. She says: "As an adult it was wonderful to have my mom beside me as I was given a medal from the Queen of England for services to Science and Education."

Most consumers will give cards (77.9%) and flowers (68.5%) to their mothers or take her out to eat (55.9%) in 2017, but more money will be spent on jewelry ($5 billion) than any other category, according to the NRF.

Anna Jarvis started the tradition of wearing a carnation on Mother's Day. A colored carnation means that a person's mother is living. A white carnation indicates that a person's mother is deceased.

While many countries celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May, a tradition which began in the US, it's celebrated annually on May 10 in Mexico. Similar celebrations of mothers are held on various days of the year in other countries, often following ancient or religious traditions.

In Britain and some parts of Europe, the fourth Sunday of Lent was often celebrated as Mothering Day, but that has been replaced by Mother's Day, for the most part.

Timeline:1872 - Julia Ward Howe, who is a pacifist, suffragette, and writer of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," first suggests Mother's Day in the United States. She suggests the day as a day mothers could rally for peace and for several years, she holds an annual Mother's Day meeting in Boston.

1908 - Anna Jarvis begins a campaign for a nationwide observance of Mother's Day in honor of her late mother, a community health advocate. Anna Jarvis was deeply dismayed over the commercialization of Mother's Day. Before she died in 1948, she admitted that she regretted ever starting the holiday.

May 9, 1914 - President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill recognizing Mother's Day as a national holiday.

Photos:Guess who? Mothers of celebrities

Think you know which celebrities calls these women mother? Take a look and find out.